Ellen Burstyn

Actress 

Ellen Burstyn's illustrious career encompasses film, stage, and television. In 1975, she became only the third woman in history to win both the Tony Award and the Academy Award in the same year, for her work in Bernard Slade's Same Time, Next Year on Broadway and in Martin Scorsese's Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, for which she also received a Golden Globe nomination and a British Academy Award for Best Actress. Ellen has been nominated for an Academy Award five other times, for the films: The Last Picture Show (1972), The Exorcist (1974), Same Time, Next Year (1979), Resurrection (1981), and Requiem for a Dream (2001).

Ellen will be seen on the big screen in Darren Aronofsky's new film The Fountain co-starring with Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz. Warner Bros. will release the film on November 22^nd. This past fall, she appeared in Neil LaBute's remake of The Wicker Man with Nicholas Cage, which will be out on DVD this December. Ellen's memoirs, Lessons in Becoming Myself, is now available in bookstores nationwide and online by Riverhead Press.

For most of her adult life, Ellen has traveled a demanding path of personal growth and spiritual insight that has deepened her understanding of herself and led her ever closer to the universal truths at the heart of the world's great religions. Considered by many to be one of our greatest living actors, Burstyn now chronicles her extraordinary journey in both acting and life in her captivating memoir, Lessons in Becoming Myself.

Above all, however, Burstyn's story is a quest for greater self-knowledge and deeper spiritual perception. "If you want to know who you truly are," she writes, "the answer won't be found in the outer world; you must go inside and see where your instincts lead you." With sensitivity and insight, she tells how she turned even personal pain and tragedy - including personal missteps, toxic relationships, and private demons she battled - into opportunities for personal transformation. In her revealing, eloquent, and inspirational memoir, one of our most gifted and admired actresses passes on the fruitful lessons she has learned from a lifetime of rich experience in her personal life, her career, and her spiritual quest.

Academically, Ellen holds three honorary doctorates, one in Fine Arts from the School of Visual Arts, a Doctor of Humane Letters from Dowling College, and a doctorate from The New School for Social Research. Ellen also teaches in The Actors Studio M.F.A. program at its new home at Pace University in New York City and lectures throughout the country on a wide range of topics.

For more information, visit Ellen's website at http://www.ellenburstyn.net/.